A Conversation with James Tooley: The Government Should Have No Role in Education

In an exclusive interview with Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org, James Tooley revisits his extensive research on education in the poorest countries.

James Tooley

James Tooley is the vice-​chancellor of the University of Buckingham, and a professor of Educational Entrepreneurship and Policy. Previously, he was the director of the E. G. West Centre at Newcastle University, dedicated to choice, competition, and entrepreneurship in education. He has done extensive work in demonstrating the benefits of private education for low-​income families. Much of his work has focused on identifying ways to make private education more accessible and to facilitate its growth in the developing world, especially among the poor.

Tooley has worked for over 25 years in educational development, including years of on-​location experience in the developing world. He has served as a researcher at Manchester and Oxford Universities. His books include The Beautiful Tree: A Personal Journey Into How the World’s Poorest People Are Educating Themselves (2009), The Miseducation of Women (2003) and Reclaiming Education(2000). Tooley currently lives in Hyderabad, India, where he continues his lifelong work on educating the world’s poor.

Barbara Galletti
Senior Producer, Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org

With the potential abolition of the U.S. Department of Education, the question of the government’s role in education has resurfaced. In an exclusive interview with Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org, James Tooley revisits his extensive research on education in the poorest countries. His conclusion? Government is not, and has never been, necessary to educate our children.

James Tooley is the vice-​chancellor at the University of Buckingham. His book on how the world’s poorest people educate themselves, “The Beautiful Tree,” is available here: https://​www​.cato​.org/​b​o​o​k​s​/​b​e​a​u​t​i​f​u​l​-tree 

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